Sightings

Main sighting: whimbrel

5 whimbrel calling and heading upriver 1400hrs, also single wheatear, 8 little egret and a count of 80 shelduck viewing from pill towards Undy foreshore.

Main sighting: Garganey

Out of county at Parc Slip m+f Garganey on the main lake from 14h50.

Main sighting: Wader mix

En-route to hides: wren, pheasants, chiffchaffs, moorhen, blackcaps, starlings, great tits and herring gulls. Hide 1: Canada geese, mallards, cettis, greylags, 8 shelduck, 4 redshanks, 4 oystercatchers, skylark, 2 whimbrel (on the island feeding), 4 lapwing, 9 avocet, crows, woodpigeons and coot. Hide 2: blackbirds, 483 black tailed godwits (not sure if there more on lagoon 3, didn’t venture that far due to the rains), 13 knot, 3 cormorants, 6 gadwall, 8 swallows, 4 shoveler, 6 teal, 11 swans fly-past, 7 ringed plovers, 1 little ringed plover, 4 bar-tailed godwits, 143 dunlin (flock broke to 43 with 1 little stint mixed in), 1 greenshank, reed warbler, 1 spotted redshank (very dark now), 3 white wagtails, lesser black-backed gulls, curlew, pied wagtail, stonechat, meadow pipit, goldfinches, house martins, 1 ruff, great white egret flying over lagoon 3 and out to wards The Point, sedge warbler and reed buntings.

Main sighting: osprey

Both ospreys at nest site at 0800hrs, mating briefly at 0925hrs before both flying off

Main sighting: Cuckoo

In valley on south side. Also Redstart and Tree Pipits.

Main sighting: Ring Ousel

Also Wheatear (8), Stonechat (6), Swallow (4), Raven (2), Kestrel, Pied Wagtail, Linnet flock and plenty of Willow Warblers.

Main sighting: Whinchat

Whinchat 1, Whitethroat 1, Garden Warbler 1, Yellowhammer 2, Reed Bunting 1, Tree Pipit 10+, Willow Warbler 20+, Linnet 12+, Cuckoo

Main sighting: Cuckoo

Cuckoo perching on fence posts on the track up to the old Brynmawr reservoir. Snipe flushed from the moor. Siskins visiting garden feeders after a gap of some weeks.

Main sighting: 2 swallows

2 swallows on telegraph pole

Main sighting: Blue-headed wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)

A male present on the first lagoon was most likely this subspecies, although the bird appeared to show some characteristics of Iberian wagtail M. f. iberiae, including a relatively dark head, broad white supercilium which flared behind the eye, and an apparently white throat. It was not possible to confirm that features suggesting an intergrade (such as white flecks on the ear coverts, loral line or extent of the white throat) or pure Iberian wagtail due to the distance at which the bird was observed. The bird was present for approximately 7 minutes before being lost to view, during which time it was not possible to obtain good (or even reasonable) quality record shots – perhaps one to keep an eye open for!

Main sighting: Common Redstart

Observed for forty minutes moving between solar panel fencing and the hedgerow.

Main sighting: Whinchat

Male Whinchat on gorse near the old Brynmawr reservoir. Six Stonechats but only one Wheatear. Swallow over. Kestrel hunting.